My itinerary is exactly what I planned for except for Day 6, which I ended up going to Hulhumale, instead of going to Dhifussi Island from Fulidhoo. As I missed the local ferry to Dhifussi, I figured that it is too risky to go to other island far from Male (No ferry available on Friday) and decided to just stay to explore Villingili island.

When it comes to traveling, accommodation is definitely the most expensive things you’ll have to pay for, especially if you’re planning to stay long or moving from one place to another. Ever since I knew the existence of Couchsurfing (CS) and other useful sites such as HelpeX, I spent less (more likely none) on my accommodation expenses. I used CS mostly when i’m visiting a place for a short stay and HelpX for my longterm stay.

HOW MUCH?

The total cost of my accommodation expenses came out to be RM 136.00, which is around USD $35.14 only! Yes, for 85 days, that’s seems impossible! 😛 I could actually save more but considering i’m traveling with my travel buddy while in Jeju Island, I decided to stay at hostel with her for the 2 nights we were together.

I only had to pay these 2 place for my accommodation while in South Korea:

Couchsurfing (CS) – Your stay with hosts is free. Meet travelers in other cities, or in your own city! There’s always something new to join
More/Apply: httpsa//www.couchsurfing.com/

Who knew traveling could be so easy if you rely on strangers’ kindness.

It’s a great thing to experience local’s daily life I used it for:

Seoul – for 2 Nights – Stayed with a pretty University student.

Cheonan for 2 Nights – Stayed with a young Korean couple.

Jeonju for 2 Nights – Stayed with Seoulite working as Jeonju official.

Gyengju for 2 Nights – Stayed with an Australian professor married to Korean girl.

Jeju Island for 5 Nights – Stayed with an American English teacher at day & DJ at night.

*Due to their privacy, I won’t mention their names here. But if you would like to meet them personally on your visit to South Korea, let me know! I can ask them if they are available to host you. 😛

Seoul – Bridge Backpackers (http://www.bridgebackpackers.com/) – Knew about this place from CS. The owner, Greg Aussie guy married to korean girl offered me about the volunteering via message on CS.

With my awesome host, Greg & his wife from Bridge Backpackers

*Feel free to ask me about it. I can recommend you to local there or teach you how to send request if you’re new to it. 🙂

HELPX/BACKPACKERS

If you’re tired of using CS and wanted to stay longer in one place for free, you could do some volunteering at the guesthouse/hostel. For my South Korean trip, I choose to use HelpX (www.helpx.net/). HelpX is an online listing of host organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats who invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term (minimum 2-3 weeks) in exchange for food and accommodation. It’s the same concept with Workaway (https://www.workaway.info/). invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term or long-term in exchange accommodation (minimum 1 month stay). In the typical arrangement, the helper works an average of 3 hours per day and receives free accommodation.

Some temples are offering free temple stay for foreigners to experience life living in a temple. Do check out their website from time to time for that. http://eng.templestay.com/

Thanks to the Buddha’s day (May 6th), I get to stay at the temple one night in Busan for free. It was a different and relaxing experience ever. I learned how to sit on my feet for a long period of time. 😛

TRAVEL TIPS

Here’s are other website that you can try for your free accommodations.

*Bare in mind that this trip was exactly 2 years ago (March 2014 – June 2014) so prices might have changed over the period of time. Some of the things that I tried might as well discontinued, unavailable or closed.

(But if you found something better than what’s written here, do let me know! Would love to know about it!)*

My total cost of return tickets came out to be RM 816.78, which is around USD $211.05. Direct return flight from Malyasia; Kota Kinabalu International Airport (BKI) to South Korea; Incheon International Airport (ICN) usually cost not less than RM 1300.00. Therefore, flying via Manila saved me half of the flight ticket price.

I flew to South Korea (Incheon International Airport) from Philippines (Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport) via Airasia Zest (also known as Zest Airways). The return ticket only cost me RM 523.66, which is around USD $135.31. I booked the flight tickets 4 months ahead & bought it separately on different days.

I flew from Jeju Island (Jeju International Airport Jeju) to Busan (Gimhae Internationa Airport) via Jeju Air for only KRW 34,560.00 (~MYR 110.59). I bought the flight ticket few days before departure as I figured that flying to Busan is cheaper than taking the ferry. And after the Sewol incident (I was on the similar ferry, going to Jeju as well but from Mokpo, on the same day!), it’s best to just take the flight.

TRAVEL TIPS

For cheap flight tickets, I usually check on http://www.skyscanner.com.my/ beforehand and book on the airlines website itself if I found a very good flight deals. Select the ‘Cheapest Month‘ on depart and return section if you’re not sure when to travel.

Make sure to use ‘Incognito window‘ (private browsing mode) when searching for flight tickets as (most of us knew about this already) prices increased rapidly on flight that you search for often. Clear your cookies and cache before searching will help too. And oh, do subscribe to cheap airlines newsletter (such as Airasia or Cebu pasific) to be among of those the first to know about their ticket promotions!

*Bare in mind that this trip was exactly 2 years ago (March 2014 – June 2014) so prices might have changed over the period of time. Some of the things that I tried might as well discontinued, unavailable or closed.

(But if you found something better than what’s written here, do let me know! Would love to know about it!)*